BACKGROUND AND AIMS Mimetic seeds simulate the appearance of fleshy fruits and arilled seeds without producing nutritive tissues as a reward for seed dispersers. In this strategy of seed dispersal, seeds may remain attached to the mother plant for long periods after maturity, increasing their availability to naïve seed dispersers. The hypothesis that seed coat impermeability in many tropical Fa...

Abrin, an A/B toxin obtained from the Abrus precatorius plant is extremely toxic and a potential bio-warfare agent. Till date there is no antidote or vaccine available against this toxin. The only known neutralizing monoclonal antibody against abrin, namely D6F10, has been shown to rescue the toxicity of abrin in cells as well as in mice. The present study focuses on mapping the epitopic region...

BACKGROUND Immunotherapy is fast emerging as one of the leading modes of treatment of cancer, in combination with chemotherapy and radiation. Use of immunotoxins, proteins bearing a cell-surface receptor-specific antibody conjugated to a toxin, enhances the efficacy of cancer treatment. The toxin Abrin, isolated from the Abrus precatorius plant, is a type II ribosome inactivating protein, has a...

A purification procedure is described for two major toxic proteins from seeds of Abrus precatorius by successive chromatography on diethylaminoethyl-Sephadex A-50, carboxymethyl-cellulose, and DEAE-cellulose. The two toxins obtained both appeared homogeneous as judged by electrophoresis and analytical ultracentrifugation. Abrin A, the more positively charged protein obtained from the DEAE-cellu...

Handler, Bernheim, and Klein (1) have shown that the oxidation of the N-methyl derivatives of nL-methionine, m-leucine, nL-alanine, and DLhistidine by rat liver and kidney preparations is due to the presence of n-amino acid oxidase, and that the N-methyl derivatives of nr,-phenylalanine, nL-tryptophan, and m,-valine are not oxidized by these preparations. Blanchard, Green, Nocito, and Ratner (2...

Non-fatal deliberate self-harm (DSH) and suicides are serious global health problems in many lowand middleincome countries including India. We conducted a cross sectional observational study in patients admitted with deliberate self harm in a tertiary care centre to identify the common agents used for poisoning in our area, to know the common clinical features and the outcome of such cases. Of ...